This is not necessarily a book for die-hard Austen fans, but if you’re willing to take the expectation of Jane Austen out of the story then you can enjoy this story about Jane Hayes.

The novel begins: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a thirty-something woman in possession of a satisfying career and a fabulous hairdo must be in want of very little…”, but that catch is that Jane Hayes does have something she wants quite desperately.

Thanks to multiple readings of Pride and Prejudice (and more than a few viewings of the BBC version with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy) Jane Hayes can settle for nothing less than her own Mr. Darcy. This is not something she confides to everyone, but her Great Aunt Carolyn guessed the truth and in her will bequeaths to Jane an all-expenses paid three-week vacation to Austenland.

What is Austeland? Well, Austenland is a high-class, high-dollar Regency/Austen-themed resort for, well…rather lonely ladies. Rather lonely RICH ladies. It is certainly nothing shocking or scandalous, but a resort where those who have an affinity for the Regency period can go for three weeks, have a little fake romance that goes nowhere and leave happy to have experienced an Austen-like courtship with all the little rules of society that seem, to them, more quaint than restrictive.

Jane’s purpose? To get Darcy out of her head.

She plans for Austenland to provide a sort of romantic catharsis, ridding her of the irrational desire to find her own Darcy. So she goes to Austenland to play out her role as Miss Jane Erstwhile and be rid of Darcy once and for all. And in fact, after she arrives she finds the rules restrictive (no cell phones), the company less than stellar (Miss Charming) and one particular guest, a Mr. Nobely as the most infuriation person she has ever known – and he is so much like Darcy that Jane wonders how Elizabeth Bennet would ever have married Mr. Darcy in the first place.

What Jane “Erstwhile” didn’t plan for was her meeting with Martin, the gardener, who helps her feed her technology addiction when the withdrawal is at its height and just may have something over the straitlaced Mr. Nobely. She just has to wonder, how many of the Austenland guests and workers are actors, and how many of them genuinely mean what they say and do? Because, Jane isn’t really too good at playing pretend.

I found Austenland enjoyable, but not anything to write home about. It’s a nice diversion and a rather short read, clocking in at only 195 pages.  I have to admit I’m glad I checked it out from the library instead of buying my own copy – I think I learned that with the books by Pamela Aiden.  The only thing is that the story has less to do with Austen and more to do with a modern day vacation-like love story. Strangely, it reminds me very much of The Corset Diaries, by Katie MacAlister.

Tags: Austen, Austenland, Fanfiction, Hale, Jane Austen, Jane Austen Fan Fiction, Romance, Shannon Hale